(In the U.S.A., November 21-28 is National Bible Week.)

How true it is: What we think about the Bible shows the direction we're headed in life. It enables us to gauge our overall standpoint. In the words of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, "Our thoughts of the Bible utter our lives." ^{Message to The Mother Church for 1902, p. 4.}

At first blush those words may sound like a riddle. I used to wonder what they meant. Yet there are ready illustrations in some common attitudes.

• Take for example the view that the Bible is "dated"—an obsolete book having little relevance to the late twentieth century. The wide acceptance of this notion is a measure of how far many individuals, and our culture as a whole, have drifted toward the insidious futility of materialism. The Bible is anything but "dated" because the demand for spiritual freedom from barbarism is never dated. There's a desperate need for spiritual freedom amid the sophisticated jungles we face in modern institutions and systems.

Such freedom can come only through honoring spiritual values. These are the basis of civilized attitudes. The Bible enables us to understand spiritual values and honor them. From the Scriptures we learn that spiritual worth brings dominion over one's environment. In the radical language of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy, "The central fact of the Bible is the superiority of spiritual over physical power." ^{Science and Health, p. 131.} A useful footnote: If we don't want spiritual darkness to engulf our offspring and our country, the need is urgent for us to ensure enlightened Bible teaching in our homes and Sunday Schools—and more faithful Sunday School attendance.

• Example number two: The widespread misconception that the Bible is mostly a book of ancient myths overlooks the spiritual content of the scriptural allegories, parables, metaphors, imagery, and historical narratives. Yet the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, offers the insightful observation, "Spiritual teaching must always be by symbols." ^{Ibid., p. 575.}

Seen in its true allegorical sense, the Genesis account of Adam and Eve—the serpent, the temptation and fall of man—is a marvelously accurate and illuminating depiction of the nature of evil, its total deceptiveness and fraudulent claims. The great Teacher, Christ Jesus, continually used metaphors and homely illustrations—for instance, the grain of mustard seed, the pearl of great price, the story of the prodigal son—in telling his hearers of the kingdom of heaven and making clear the Christ message of redemption and salvation.

The conclusion follows that the all-important and timeless interpretation of Scripture is the spiritual. In the words of Mrs. Eddy, "Take away the spiritual signification of Scripture, and that compilation can do no more for mortals than can moonbeams to melt a river of ice." ^{Ibid., p. 241.}

Again a footnote: Thorough familiarity with Bible texts and historical lessons is indispensable if we are to find the Scriptures to be the chart of life and salvation. But such familiarity alone is not enough. The spiritual signification must always be the aim of our study. The inspired Word leaps from the pages with clarity, beauty, and power when we approach the Bible from a spiritual standpoint. Thus our thoughts about the Bible provide a gauge of our own spirituality.

Here's where, among all English translations, one finds the glow of the King James Version plainly incomparable. Other translations sometimes clarify Bible language or setting, as is clear from Mrs. Eddy's references to them. But the soaring rhythms of the King James Version give wings to spiritual sense. This is the Bible Mrs. Eddy almost always quotes in her writings. It's the one she primarily turned to throughout her life and in her work as Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. She could have designated a modern translation for use in Christian Science church services. She did not, despite her recognition of the usefulness of other versions. As is seen throughout her writings, she attached paramount importance to the clarity and integrity of the Bible's spiritual message.

• Example number three: Many people today, like disappointed searchers of earlier centuries, believe the Bible to be vague and complex, inconsistent and incomprehensible. Our perception of the fallacy of such views provides a good measure of our spiritual clarity of vision.

If we would truly understand the Bible, how vital it is to have a key that unlocks its deeper meaning! And what joy to find that one exists! This is what Science and Health is: not a substitute for the Scriptures but a book that sends its readers to the Scriptures ... never a replacement of the Bible but a book that makes transparent the divinely consistent revelations of the Bible ... an elucidation of its spiritual meaning ... a disclosure of the deep divinity to be found through its pages; in short, a book that not only contains but is a key to the Scriptures.

This key unlocks the perfect, consistent, unified Science that underlies the scriptural teachings. And when the Bible is seen in its transparency as Science and Health reveals it, the great Book becomes, among other things, a volume of illustrations showing the impact of divine revelation on human experience. It delineates various kinds of human behavior, contrasting them with the divine commandments and showing their consequences. It illustrates, especially in Jesus' mission, the application and demonstration of the Science of Christ. It confirms the transcendent healing power of Truth.

Another footnote: The New Testament tells us that the Scriptures are able to make us "wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." ^{II Tim. 3:15.} No real basis exists in the inspired pages of the Bible for man-made dogmas, materialized worship, or sectarian bitterness—because the limpid divinity of the scriptural message reveals the reality of supreme Spirit and the law of universal Love.

Seen in its influence and destiny in human history, the Bible as a whole is well described, in a figurative sense, by the vision of the Revelator: "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." ^{Rev. 22:1, 2.}

DeWITT JOHN

Because the words of Scripture are true, they remain fresh and powerful today. They have the power to transform, to lift up, to save. Thus, the Bible continues to change our lives—and to show humanity a spiritual and immortal destiny.

From the multi-image slide show "As Children of Light" in the Bible Exhibit, Christian Science Center, Boston, Massachusetts.